Thursday, December 5, 2013

Rich Walcoff of KGO Radio, you should know better: the public pretty much hates the media and it's not wise to rip the hometown marquee QB.

That's what Walcoff did Thursday morning calling out Colin Kaepernick for being a putz to Bay Area sports reporters. Walcoff excoriated the 49ers star for his petulance during press conferences.

Cut to actuality: "You don't like this" he asks #7: "I'm a football player", said the QB. He's right. So is Walcoff, but to go after the star player on the Niners is counterproductive. Again Rich, pick better targets.

**Another underrated reporter with a great reservoir of hard work and good will: KPIX's ace Joe Vazquez. The Emmy-award winning correspondent is low-key and under the radar but his consistent performance speaks volumes and why he's almost universally liked at 855 Battery.

*The incessant reporting of the current cold snap in the Bay Area has reached almost embarrassing proportions at KCBS. The chief annoyer: Stan Bunger and Susan Leigh Taylor, my God can you guys get a grip! Do something original Stan--maybe talk to Mark Sandalow an extra segment. And SLT: Enough of your insipid "Brrrr"--it sounds stupid and insignificant; genuine? Not. Why don't you guys report some news for a change. Stan: bring an extra sweater and drink some coffee, Jesus Christ!

**Invasion of the Body Snatchers at Jack London Square where at KTVU some staffers have been told not to talk to me. Funny, that worked really well at KPIX. Raponi the GM: Still playing the Silence of the Lambs game with ND, Lee Rosenthal. Guys and Girls: I know the drill, you should too. The more you try to gag the more I know and believe me, I'm thrilled that you think enough of me to gag the reporters. Only the other guys still talk.

**Funny, I remember the days when there were those people who insisted I was in the back pocke of KTVU in spite of my overall appreciation of the Channel 2 brand. Get some new teleprompters, control the jealousy between the two second-tier sports anchors and replace the old furniture in the newsroom.

44 comments:

I think RW could have approached his excoriation of Kaepernick better, but I don't disagree with his sentiment, in general. Kaepernick should recognize that his curt and ultimately uninsightful answers to questions from the media will eventually limit his appeal to the fans in the Bay Area (and hurt his ability to become a larger iconic player in the NFL). If the argument against a media person attacking him is recognizing how 'marquee' he is, certainly this would then be relevant to the discussion.

Compare Kaepernick to Russell Wilson, another young, emerging QB, and see how different their approach is with the media. To me, Wilson is far more appealing a player in the grand scheme of things. Donte Whitner, who answers questions with great eloquence and thoughtfulness, doesn't seem to be any worse off for sharing his thoughts with the media.

I do think that Kaepernick should be judged first on his play, not his words, but the point is.. when he is curt to the media, it eventually extends to him being curt with his fans, too.

Rich Walcoff is an arrogant, self-serving nobody. He tried his hand at play-by-play years ago and sounded like a buffoon. He thinks he's the most important thing in the world. He's not. He's a legend in his own mind. He went after Kaepernick because he wants attention. However, this time the guy is right. Kaepernick isn't warm and fuzzy towards the media. He doesn't have to be, but look at guys like Drew Brees and the Mannings. They know they have to be nice to the fat insecure slobs who cover the teams. It helps. But still, Walcoff is better off hosting a talk show.

KCBS is like other media outlets. No creativity. Just rip and read from the newspapers, which is a scary proposition to begin with. That's probably because they don't get paid enough to do some serious reporting. Can't blame them there. Just blame the bean counters. Journalism has gone to hell. Shame.

If Cap doesn't like the media here, he should be thankful he's not playing for the Jets or Giants. Why should the media coddle any player, especially when he's having a mediocre year? Walcoff and the other beat writers are just doing their jobs. Fans may idolize players, but the NFL doesn't. Players make no money on sales of their jerseys, and when making those TV commercials the league has to get it's cut first. Yes, he's an elite pro quarterback and he gets paid well, but a lot of baggage comes with that. It's part of the territory, deal with it Cap.

Kaeprnick's big problem is that he got too much success too early in his career, and so the expectations coming into this season were too high. Also, he went to Nevada-Reno and never had a large media contingent around him, and as you can can readily see, he's not really comfortable with the media. Joe Montana wasn't exactly a media darling either, as he gave dull, short answers that essentially revealed nothing. I'm sure Bill Walsh liked that, as JIm Harbaugh probably admires the way Kapernick keeps his 'cards close to his vest." Another problem is maturity. Kaepernick may be very confident on the field, but off of it he still seems a little tentative. Give time and more success, that should change for the better. Needless to say, we expect too much from our athletes, especially the younger guys who "come out of nowhere" to become stars, like Kaepernick and other QBs such as Luck, RG III, Russell Wilson and Cam Newton.

I was born and raised in the Bay Area and even I have to laugh at the coverage of the cold weather. Be sure to show people bundled up! Be sure to show the soccer moms and the millennial hipsters wearing the latest cold weather fashions! UGG boots anyone? The ridiculous part of it is all of these pampered idiots in the Bay Area wouldn't last a week where the REAL cold is. Try Chicago...the Midwest....back East. They would be crying over their Starbucks when their Ipad screens crack and fog up all the while texting and facebooking how cool it is in the "yay area". Repeating a quote from a popular sitcom, "7 billion people on earth....we need a new plague".

Ha you're so right, as a full-time 35-year resident of Lake Tahoe, I always chuckle at the Bay area folks who feel so compelled by the "cold" to wear mufflers around their necks. I have never seen anyone up here wear one, where it does occasionally get cold.

When you're having to report weather every ten minutes, what should you do? Ignore the fact that's it's the coldest day of the season BY FAR and iced over in many parts of the Bay? You're just being ridiculous Rich. By the way, it's freakin' cold!

Uh, let's see here...isn't "something that's never happened before" sort of the DEFINITION of news? Temperature records for the date are broken and you want the all-news station to ignore it? Rich, your attempts to create controversy are so transparent!

Lowell Cohn had a Kap rant also. I've been saying all along- what an attitude he has. He should do less commercials with the competition in Video game spots as his friends and instead get mean vs THEM,not the media.The more surly he gets,the less I see him as a long term winner. Time will tell as usual..

I heard Rich this morning, and he came across very poorly. Colin doesn't avoid the media, he just doesn't give much more than he's required to. When he's dealing with the same people who eviscerate him when any weakness is shown on the field, why ever would he want to be engaging with them in the locker room or elsewhere?

Boohoo for media folks who feel deprived of possible "gotcha" clips or other attention-grabbing moments. Rich said that's not what he's after, but I don't believe him for a moment. (His behavior with Barry Bonds comes to mind, among others.)

I'd start asking Colin softball questions unrelated to football - what's his song of the week, what movie is he looking forward to, things like that. At least, that would be more enjoyable for everyone instead of the current rounds of asking questions for which the answers are predictable/already known.

Get this Rich: Limbaugh is moving from KFI on Jan 1, 2014. Just like here with KKSF, But KFI is going All Local like the old KGO.KFI will switch to all-local programming, and the vacated Limbaugh block will be filled by hosts Bill Handel and Bill Carroll. Handel's show will run from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m., and Carroll's from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-rush-limbaugh-kfi-ktlk-20131204,0,3611081.story#ixzz2me44LZsq

Yes, Walcoff seems to have taken the rebuff quite personally, as have many sports reporters. But perhaps it's that they've been spoiled by Manning, Brees and Wilson, all of who conduct their interviews with the maturity and intelligence expected of a marquee team leader.

Dear Rich, I only just heard that KKSF-910 is firing all Liberal Hosts as of January!What can we possibly do? That was our only Liberal local link.Now we get only RightWing Radio forced down our throats!

Speaking of KTVU, the evening news anchor referred to the most recent BART incident as having occurred in the "Oakland hills tunnel". I can't decide if this is Oakland boosterism runamok, a recent newcomer to the Bay Area's ignorance, or just plain flatout poor reporting. The official, proper name of the tunnel is the "Berkeley Hills Tunnel". The tunnel was named in the era when virtually all locals knew that the Berkeley Hills are a geographic feature, not just the "hills in Berkeley", and that, yes, they extend into Oakland.

Rich any coincidence that Gary and Larry called in sick to KNBR the same day Sports Night Live was to debut on KRON? I turned it on, the guide says Sports Night Live, but its repeats of CSI or one of those cop shows. Contract squabble?

Kudos to Rich Walcoff for having the guts to say this publically. Kudos to you9:27 as well. You are 100% right. The 49ers have ALWAYS been my team, but both Harbaugh and Kaepernick are first class jerks! Kaep should take apage out of Steph Curry's book. He has time for everyone and does it with class.

The only thing about Rich and KGO and news in general is the same wah wah wah dialogue gets repeated ALL DAY! Enough already! Kaep is merely going through real life...after a stunning start last year he was the Golden Boy...this year he is learning the hard way that sometimes those golden moments come and go...man up Kaepernick.

KKSF is not firing their liberal hosts at all. In fact, they're adding Rhodes since she remains with Premier, and she's the one syndicated show during primetime. They need to lose Armstrong and Getty on the station something fast. Doesn't work with the lineup at all.

KNEW is flipping to conservative talk, and KKSF is going after the local market in SF that Cumulus ceded to them. CC is making the move while KGO is still down on the ground. I don't think having Frosty or Gil is doing them any favors as far as moving the dial is concerned, but it's a start.

CC is doing the same thing in LA, moving the conservative talkers to their secondary startion, and going more local at their primary. KKSF is 20k in day, 5k at night, and KNEW is 5k full time. KGO has the most dominant signal throughout the region, which is pretty much going to waste.

Radnich did a mention of you as the guy who he threw a bone to every now and then,and that got you off his back after six years. "I just threw him a bone and it kept the dialogue open" he laughed.So much,he wouldn't say your name.